Bukowski's rules

 

Charles Bukowski's work will change your life forever.

His work takes 100s of hours to read. I've gone through it so you don't have to.

11 ideas. 11 opportunities to upgrade your mind.

https://twitter.com/Tim_Denning/status/1771478010094321974

Unroll:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1771478010094321974.html

_____

“Find what you love and let it kill you."

I gave up my corporate career to let online writing kill me.

Find the thing you want to kill you. Take the subject you’re crazy about & make it your entire life.

Work on it after hours. Then have this wild task take over your career. 

“People are strange: they are constantly angered by trivial things,

But on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.”

The biggest debate we should have is with ourselves. What the heck are you doing in life?

Stop majoring in minor things. 

“An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way”

The smartest people talk simply

This is why online writers are becoming so stupidly wealthy.

Cheat code to the universe: simplicity

Take complexity. Make it simple. 

“The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it –

Basically because you feel good when you are near or with them”

Most people aren’t free. They hate their life, desperate for an escape.

But fear stops them from finding one.

Find free souls and ask them questions. 

“People run from rain but sit in bathtubs full of water”

Life is a paradox.

We say we don’t want one thing but then secretly let it into our lives in other forms.

When you realize how conflicted the average person is you understand why we suffer. 

“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must live”

If life were a video game played on a phone, you wouldn’t play it safe.

Nope.

You’d push the limits, step on landmines, blow stuff up, enter cheat codes, and have fun.

What the hell have you got to lose?

“They disgust me, the way they wait for death with as much passion as a traffic signal”

Cruising through life is effectively waiting for death.

Obsession is the compass to the good life. It starts with not giving a f*ck. 

“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence”

Once you learn the power of confidence, you can use it to get unfair results you haven’t even earned yet.

To get there, understand all obstacles are good

“The 9-5 is one of the greatest atrocities sprung upon mankind. You give your life away to a function that doesn’t interest you”

• No transparency

• Overworked

• Incentives/bonuses subject to interpretation

• The value created earns you a tiny bit back (salary)

"How the hell could a person enjoy being

awakened at 6:30 AM

leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss

brush teeth & hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money

for somebody else & were asked to be grateful for the opportunity?"

“You have to die a few times before you can really live”

Dying is:

Divorce

Rejection

Getting fired

Going bankrupt

Facing public humiliation

Watching someone you love die

They can make or break you. When you die inside a few times, you become braver.

That's really living. 

If you love this post, then you’ll love my free eBook that’ll help you reach personal freedom faster:

Are You Operating With Maximum Energy?https://timdenning.com/tb/

Huawei HQ like Europe

 

Huawei HQ like Europe: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1769904859455623449

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1769904859455623449.html

The Cultural Tutor

@culturaltutor

14h • 25 tweets • 9 min read •  Read on X

 Scrolly

This city is not in Italy, France, or Germany.

It's in China and it's less than ten years old.

This is Huawei's R&D Headquarters, where 25,000 people work, and it might just be the most interesting office building(s) in the world...

Officially called the "Huawei Ox Horn Campus", this vast complex — essentially a small city — was built between 2015 and 2022 to the cost of $1.5 billion in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, southern China.

It covers 1.4 million square metres and accommodates 25,000+ employees.

The Campus is divided into twelve sections inspired by cities or regions in Europe, plus 1-1 replicas of famous buildings.

They are: Paris, Oxford, Bruges, Burgundy, Fribourg, Luxembourg, Windermere, Granada, Verona, Český Krumlov, Heidelberg, and Bologna (pictured below).

Here we see the famous Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University, built in the 18th century, and its replica at Ox Horn Campus:

And here is the star of the show — a reinterpretation of Heidelberg Castle in Germany, which stands at the heart of the Campus.

The lake below and the meadows and forests around it are the "Windermere" section, named after England's largest lake.

The Old Bridge in Heidelberg, with its distinctive gateway at one end, has also been rebuilt by Huawei:

There is also a reinterpretation of Versailles in France.

Remember: these buildings are brand new, and in many cases filled with high-tech equipment and research facilities.

It may look like a museum or palace, but this is a state of the art workplace.

Inside is a replica of the Reading Room at France's National Library, complete with a colossal stained glass ceiling.

You can see how Huawei's versions are less lavish, slightly less detailed than the originals.

Still, it's hard to argue they did a bad job.

And in the Bruges section there is even a replica of Bruges' famous Belfry.

You also get a sense of how Ox Horn Campus has streets, alleys, and squares, just like any real city.

Rather than going up elevators you walk through narrow lanes — a novel approach to office design?

Large parts of Verona in northern Italy have been rebuilt by Huawei.

Including the great Castelvecchio on the banks of the Adige, built during the reign of the Scaliger Dynasty in Verona.

Notice, to the left of Huawei's version, the towers of Czechia's Český Krumlov.

And the Torre dei Lamberti, the tallest building in Verona, constructed between the 12th and 15th centuries:

Even the building adjacent to the Torre dei Lamberti, the Palazzo della Ragione, has been built by Huawei, along with the so-called "Staircase of Reason" in its courtyard.

Plus the distinctive red and white stripes of brick and tufa used in Medieval Veronese architecture.

Not to forget Verona's main square, the Piazza Erbe, with the Baroque Palazzo Maffei at its head:

In the section inspired by Burgundy there is a replica of Fontenay Abbey, a miracle of Romanesque architecture, along with the walls and towers of the town of Semur-en-Auxois:

There is also a version of Budapest's Freedom Bridge:

And in the section inspired by Fribourg, Switzerland, there is a version of the Berntor Clocktower in Murton.

The whole campus is on a much more human scale than most modern office buildings; is there something to be learned here?

The examples go on and on — there are more than one hundred buildings at Ox Horn.

And, it seems, they were chosen tastefully: these may be famous buildings, but they are hardly "iconic" structures like the Eiffel Tower.

A genuinely broad and interesting choice of architectures.

The whole campus is linked by an electric tram system nearly 8km in length — each of the twelve "towns" has at least one tram station.

The idea was to make it a car-free town.

The trams themselves were modelled on the carriages of Switzerland's legendary Jungfrau Railway:

Each section also has cafes, restaurants, shops, gyms, and other amenities — including rather grand dining halls like this one in the Bologna section.

This probably isn't what you associate with the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment.

All in all, then, Ox Horn Campus is quite the project.

It has been criticised within China for borrowing foreign styles rather than being based on traditional Chinese architecture — meanwhile critics abroad have called it kitsch, vulgar, and even "fake".

"Fake" is surely a snobbish criticism; what's wrong with recreating beloved architecture from the past?

And, besides, not everybody can travel around the world — why shouldn't architecture do the travelling instead?

Like Prague's Charles Bridge:

And, in a world where the vast majority of offices are identical skyscrapers, and most of them extremely boring, Huawei's traditionally-inspired campus is actually a rather bold and imaginative decision.

Is this really "fake"? Or is it more appealing than most office spaces?

And, most interesting of all, it flies in the face of the argument that older architectural styles are no longer practical, affordable, or possible.

Huawei built Ox Horn using modern construction methods without compromising the styles they sought to evoke — even lamp posts.

Huawei borrowed European architecture for Ox Horn Campus — could Europe borrow something in return?

This project shows what is possible with just a little bit of imagination and desire.

Would people be happier if they worked in places like this?

So... is it fake or is it charming? Is it old-fashioned or is it forwards-thinking?

At the very least, Ox Horn Campus shows that not all offices have to look the same, that glass boxes are not our only option.

Would you want to work in an office like this, or not?

• • •

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Naval wisdom

 

Tim Denning

@Tim_Denning

7h • 19 tweets • 4 min read •  Read on X

https://twitter.com/Tim_Denning/status/1768578180355395624

I’m obsessed with how to reach financial freedom.

So, I spent 60+ hours studying how Naval Ravikant thinks about money.

Here’s what I found on becoming a quiet millionaire:

"Money doesn’t buy happiness — it buys freedom"

Freedom to do what you want when you want.

Freedom to use your time doing work you enjoy, rather than work you do to pay off debt, for stuff you probably don’t need. 

"It’s the mark of a charlatan to try and explain simple things in complex ways"

... And it’s the mark of a genius to explain complicated things in simple ways.

• The world doesn’t have to be complex
• You get to choose to embrace simplicity. 

"The difference between sounding smart and being smart is 'I don’t know.'"

The loudest person in the room or the person with the answer isn’t going to win a career prize or climb the ladder to nowhere faster. 

"If you can’t decide, the answer is no"

It’s an easy way to make a decision and feel a lot less regret.

It’s okay to have no idea and just say no. You can always change your mind, too, and change your no into a yes. 

"Subtract incentives from advice"

Follow the trail of incentives.

If you want to become a puppet then listen to experts who charge you money, and then be blind to the irony. 

"The ability to stay calm during conflict is a superpower"

Reacting to everything shows a lack of discipline

You don’t have to have the answer straight away when chaos occurs. You can sleep on it, wake up tomorrow & see how you feel

Solutions find you while you sleep/relax 

"The modern devil is cheap dopamine"

The allure of the shiny red notifications is messing up your dopamine levels.

You may not be tired after all.

You might just be exhausted from playing dopamine tennis with your brain. 

"Internal happiness is a reward for being in flow"

Create, meditate, love, play. It clears the mind & leaves us in peace.

Worship habits you do in flow. Do them more often.

Notice flow. Practice flow. Get into flow. 

"I don’t have time is just saying it’s not a priority" 

As fast as you can make a million bucks, you can lose the lot

• Study recessions

• See how important psychology is when it comes to money

• Focus on fundamentals, not inflated stock prices or news headlines 

"You make your own luck if you stay at it long enough"

Staying power is the best competitive advantage

Many people give up too soon. Keep going when everyone else has stopped

There is no shortcut except doing the work. 

Ask yourself this question:

"How much of the day is spent doing things out of obligation rather than out of interest?" 

Naval’s practical advice:

• Build, sell, write, create, invest, and own

• Read, reflect, love, seek truth, and ignore society

• Avoid debt, jail, addiction, disgrace, shortcuts, and media 

• The fundamental delusion — there is something out there that will make me happy and fulfilled forever.

• The more seriously you take yourself, the unhappier you’re going to be. 

• Don’t do things that you know are morally wrong. Not because someone is watching, but because you are. Self-esteem is just the reputation that you have with yourself.

• All greatness comes from suffering. 

• The people who succeed are irrationally passionate about something

• You’re never going to get rich renting out your time

• If you need a degree to do it, it’s not going to make you wealthy 

How to choose people to build wealth with:

"The first rule of handling conflict is don’t hang around people who are constantly engaging in conflict"